last week of 2nd grade

Tomorrow (or maybe today by the time I get finished writing this post) starts the beginning of Gracie's last week of 2nd grade! I am so happy that she's enjoyed her new school as well as she has and look forward to going Thursday to watch her perform in a "Reader's Theater" her Language Arts class has invited the parents to come see. Chris is taking the afternoon off to come watch, too. I am looking foward to having her home with me for the summer. Such a big summer this is going to be with the baby coming; I'm glad she'll be arriving when Gracie has time off from school!


Katie & I went to story time this week, and she did better with sitting with the group and not clinging to my leg as much. She may be my little crazy one, but she can sure be clingy when she wants to be-especially with this move! I'm sooooo glad she's not in school yet-and won't be for another full year-because I don't know that she would be making the transition to a new school as well as Gracie has. I still haven't decided about preschool/MDO yet-mainly b/c I'm not sure where we'll be living next school year. HOPEFULLY our house in Aiken will sell and we'll be buying a house here in Houston, but we still don't know which suburb we'll be in, although we have some ideas.


I took the girls to "Craft Time" again this week one day after Gracie got out of school. We just went straight from school and the girls got to choose books and Katie colored. They also had some computer time before craft time began. They both enjoy craft time, and I think it's such a great~FREE~thing the library offers. I was so impressed when the girls sat down at one of the tables and I heard Gracie say, "My name's Gracie. What's yours?" She used to never do that, and I'd 'encourage' her to be bolder and find out people's names. She is coming out of her shell and "growing up" right before my eyes just a little bit more every day. Scary, yet fulfilling all at the same time!

We took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese one night this week. *ugh* That was seriously barely tolerable. Gracie's school seems to have 'fundraisers' at restaurants all over town and one night was Chuck E. Cheese. They had both been talking about going forever, so we figured why not. The pizza was okay, the breadsticks were icky, the place was soooo crowded. Seriously, sometimes I think I'm just getting waaaay tooooo old b/c all of those kids were getting on my nerves, BUT the girls had a great time and we can now put off going again for a VERY long time!


After we left Chuck E. Cheese, we went to Target and bought the car seat/stroller combo for the new baby! How fun! Our wonderful friends in Aiken had given us a very generous gift card before we left, and we were able to combine that with one Chris's old work friends had given us to almost cover the entire thing. It is so cute, and Katie already loves pushing it around the apartment with her stuffed animals in it. She also loves pushing the baby swing with stuffed animals in it! We've had to restrict her from messing with the stroller for awhile b/c she almost broke it once, and we've had to remind her not to push the 'real' baby in the swing unless we give her permission and not to push it so fast. She'll have her teddy bear going fast as the wind!


Saturday, I didn't leave the apartment the whole day which was actually quite nice. Chris took the girls to bike ride for a bit and he found some of our baby things and put things together-the stroller, swing, & bouncy seat. We worked in the baby's room a little bit trying to get things a little more put together. I look at some of the things and wonder if I'm really capable of 'starting over,' but I know it should all come back to me once she's here! It was nice to just stay in the apartment, and I could tell a difference in my ankles-they weren't near as swollen so it was nice to take it kinda easy but still have Chris here to 'entertain' the girls.



Last Friday was Chris's Friday to work, but since he had today off he still had a 3-day weekend which is nice. Friday night we didn't do a whole lot exciting-he & the kids went swimming then back home. He did "have" to make a "craving run" later in the night to find me some chocolate + ice cream. He was very successful even though Outback did forget to include the raspberry sauce in the dessert he picked up. Still good though-Friday night & again when I had the leftovers Saturday afternoon!


Sunday was church and a great nap! I think all of us napped this time. After church that night we were invited to someone's house where a large group of us ate dinner and celebrated the birthday of one of the ladies. The girls had fun playing with the other kids who were there-running around being pretty crazy-but having fun. They were by far the youngest ones there, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Our new church does promotion June 1st, so Gracie will technically be a "3rd grader" on Sunday. So big, so fast! I think on Sundays she will still be in a 3rd grade only class, but on Wednesdays will be in a class with 3rd-5th grade. Seems so weird to me in some ways, but in other ways is kind of exciting. I was talking to the lady who will be teaching her class on Wed. nights and she seems really organized and 'goal oriented' (and her 2 boys will be in there) so I was glad to hear that she will have high expectations. (I will fully admit to having some "control issues" with this kind of thing. ugh-it's a curse!) I think it will be a large class (and a lot of older boys!) but Gracie will do great. I keep thinking that this group of kids will be her teen youth group in the not so distant future, so it's really kind of neat that she'll get this kind of "intro" time with them.


Chris volunteered to help with a 3rd-5th grade "Leadership Lock-In" that will be in June. I saw it in the bulletin and talked to the children's coordinator about it to get more of an idea of what they did. I wasn't sure I was ready to let her do that (even though I'm sure she'd do just fine!) so Chris kind of read my mind and suggested that he could chaperone. So, if we don't have a baby that day, they'll probably be doing that together. There are some neat activities planned during the summer for the kids, so it's fun to look at them and see which ones will fit with our family.


Today we went to the grocery store (H-E-B...LOVE that store!). Guess who I saw?!?! Beth Moore! I KNOW it was her! I soooo should have spoken to her, but I didn't. So exciting. My little mini celebrity sighting!


We spent part of our day watching "Jon & Kate plus Eight." All of us (including Chris) like that show! Later this afternoon, we had been invited over to the home of some people from church, along with another family, so we went over there. It was a really nice time, and I enjoyed it. We felt very comfortable, and the kids had a good time too. They both attended ACU (although quite a bit behind us) and it was fun to sit around and just talk & laugh.
I told Chris I'm trying to figure out where we fit in. We do have an "older" child-Gracie finishing up 2nd grade, but we also have a 4 year old and one on the way. Soooo, do we fit in with the preschool/baby age children families (in their late 20's-mid 30's age parents) or the school age children families (early 30's-early 40's age parents)? WE ourselves are mid-30's and he is almost past even that point! He assures me we can be friends with both. I guess I shouldn't worry about it; I guess I'm just analying it a little too much. It's nice to know people in both areas of life and I'm feeling blessed to be included in different activities with different people. We even had to turn down a "go out to dinner" invitation last night which I hated to do, but we'd already been invited to a different activity. I am soooo not complaining about anything....just thinking out loud really. I am so thankful for meeting all of these new people!


Tomorrow, Katie & I have a playdate with 2 moms from church and their 4 year old daughters, so I'm really looking forward to that! I know Katie will enjoy it a lot and I will too. Chris is going to take the afternoon off to meet me at the doctor for my appointment. I'm anxious to see if he has anything interesting to say or if he just says, "Things look good. See you in 2 weeks." I'm thinking at this point he may at least put me coming every week, but I'm not sure. I did go pre-register at the hospital Friday so I got that out of the way. I need to choose a pediatrician next. Mom comes on the 4th, so I get to drive to the airport. I'm getting to be a pro at Houston traffic, so I'm not too concerned! :-) I know I'm going to relax a little once she's here!


I want to put a link to this post that I thought was so timely for me to read last week. Such a good writer this girl is!


Here are some random pics from the week:
How fun to be 4 years old!
Houston heat calls for popsicles!
my poor swollen feet-you can see where my sandals were!
I'm no sure why I'm posting this, but here is ONE pregnancy pic of me! Enjoy it while it lasts b/c I may delete it soon!


We have plans to eat dinner this Friday with one of my ACU friends (my maid of honor to be more precise!) and then our friends the Bronniman's come visit Saturday for an overnight stay!!!!!! I can't wait to see them!